RoyOlivier. The rating has been adjusted downward from M. Ch 18 - Jean attempts lunch with Riza, to find that the worst day of his life is about to unfold. Next chapter, we will see Riza's same experience on that awful day.

He
wheeled into Riza's workplace to meet her for lunch, as per an
agreement from earlier that day, and was immediately on guard. The
horror stories about the place had him on edge and nervous. He saw
Riza filing some papers and was struck by how wonderful her poker
face was. He didn't think he could hold up so well in such an
obvious pressure cooker, where the slipups of others meant certain
death, and a homunculus held sway as boss.

"First
Lieutenant! I believe your lunch hour started one minute ago, we
should hurry if you're going to make it back in time!"

"Oh,
yes, of course." She seemed flustered, and spoke quietly and
absently, as if she was being reminded of some fact that she had
forgotten. Perhaps her façade was a little more porous than
Havoc had first thought. She was clearly distracted. Despite this,
she swiftly got up, threw on her coat, and walked out just a tad too
fast for Havoc to keep up.

"Hey,
slow down there First Lieutenant! My arms are killing me from what I
have to do in physical therapy, I can't wheel around as fast as you
can run!"

"Sorry,
I didn't realize."

This
was a different Riza, he didn't like it. Hopefully she would open
up like yesterday again at lunch. They walked and wheeled out of the
office in silence, Havoc starting to lead the way as they walked in
the direction of the restaurant. A small boy ran from the office
building in their direction, though apparently not directly to them,
since he started a swift run across the street. Riza's head snapped
instinctively toward the disturbance in her peripheral vision, then
her eyes widened.

"Selim!"
She cried out and started to run after the child. Havoc realized that
the child was directly in the way of a fast-moving car, and wheeled
after Riza. She was already in the road, and they were nowhere near a
ramp down to the pavement – Havoc would have to jump the curb to
get to her, and was not nearly able to pull such a stunt yet, not at
this speed. He watched in horror as the First Lieutenant ran over,
pushing the child out of the way of the traffic. She was pushed
backwards in a recoiling motion not unlike when shooting a large gun.
Unfortunately for her, this was one time when the recoiling motion
made it hard for her to continue an intended path, in this case, her
path across the street. She hovered between moving across the road
and being pushed back just long enough for the car to collide with
her. She fell to the pavement heavily.

Traffic
almost immediately stopped in all directions, and Havoc struggled
down to Riza. He yelled to someone to get help, and then gracelessly
yanked Riza up by her arm so he could check for a pulse. His heart
fell when he didn't find one. He yelled for someone who knew CPR,
but passersby didn't break stride for a crazy cripple yelling in
the street. He yelled at Riza to wake up, to keep going the way she
had said she would, even without Roy to keep watch on them, in the
makings of the coup… like she said! He loved her a little bit
yesterday, and he wasn't going to give her up this easily! Dammit,
what a creepy twist of fate! That damned Fuhrer's son, he was
already gone, the rat who had caused this accident. Maybe he was in
on it! No, Havoc, you can't start seeing every child as an enemy.
That child in particular is the worst victim of this whole affair.
No, Havoc, focus! Your new leader is dying in your arms! He snapped
out of his reverie to the loud clamor of the paramedics who rushed
Riza onto an ambulance. He followed, taking a shortcut to the
hospital (he knew that place like the back of his hand, as well as
ways to get there). Once he arrived, he pushed through the mess of
doctors and nurses who were running around like chickens with their
heads cut off, making him feel only less reassured, not more.

"How
is First Lieutenant Hawkeye?" He tried to keep his voice steady and
below a crazed yell, but he could tell he was failing.

"I
don't know who you are, but you have to leave this area."

"Like
hell I do! I'm Second Lieutenant Havoc, I served with this officer,
and I want to know how she is doing."

"She's
clinically dead." A doctor walked up to Havoc and the nurse who was
giving him the runaround and asked Havoc politely if he was the man
who came in with the First Lieutenant.

"Yes,
I am."

"I
am sorry sir, but the First Lieutenant did not survive. We did all we
could. You may see her one more time if you wish."

What?

Havoc
broke through the ranks of doctors still buzzing about, brushing
specks of salty water off his face. When did they get there, already
inches below his eyes?

"What
the hell, Riza!" he rasped almost incoherently. "You said only
yesterday that you wanted to take over in a new way. And now
you get yourself killed for a little aristocratic brat! What am I
going to do without you? What is the Colonel going to do without you?
We need you, Riza… who is going to keep the Colonel in line like
you could? Who is going to keep me up to speed on what is going on? I
was counting on you… we all were. Please come back!" He could
have sworn he saw Riza's lip twitch. "Her lip! Her lip twitched!
Doctor! Maybe she's not gone!"

"Sir,
spasms aren't uncommon in the recently deceased. I am sorry for
your loss. Were you and the First Lieutenant close?" As Havoc
started to calm down talking to the soothingly-voiced doctor, nurses
scurried over to the stretcher and started to move Riza away.

"Where
are they taking her?" Havoc was immediately tense again.

"They
are taking her to the morgue, where she will stay until a family
member comes to claim her. In fact, I was hoping you could tell me of
any family that the First Lieutenant has."

"But
she doesn't have any family. I don't think she does, anyway. I
can pull up a file on her and find out."

"That
is appreciated."

Havoc
left in shock, barely hearing or seeing the world around him. He felt
like he was underwater, with everything muted and bubbling,
slow-moving and dull. He went back to the Central headquarters and
explained what had happened to the highest-ranking people he could
find. They went off to report the news. He slowly went to Riza's
station and perused the documents there, hoping to find anything on
the First Lieutenant herself. This turned up nothing. Eventually he
decided to request the biographical information so he could give it
to the doctors to hunt down a relative. The messenger he grabbed hold
of asked him if he would rather that Central Command handle the
incident, and he refused. The messenger shook his head in boredom and
handed over the information to Havoc after what he clearly thought
was a frustrating search. Havoc wouldn't delegate this last good
turn he could do for Riza. Was this really the end? They would never
work together again, never complain about Mustang together again,
never… Havoc shook his head, determining to shake all of this, the
sooner the better. He went to the hospital again, and gave the
information to the doctor who he had spoken with before.

"Here.
She has one living relative, her grandfather, Lieutenant General
Grumman in Eastern."

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